Local LLMs changed how I use Home Assistant, and now my smart devices actually listen
Ayush Pande Apr 23, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
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I stopped trying to replace my Nvidia Shield and built something better instead
…Media Streaming Home Server Hardware 01 / 8 Nvidia Shield What does the acronym 'Shield' stand for in the Nvidia Shield TV product line? A Streaming High-performance Integrated Entertainment and Learning Device…
Home labbers say to ditch your ISP router, but the Fritz Box 7530 has WireGuard, dynamic DNS, and even a media server
…integrated DECT base station for up to six cordless phones, VoIP telephony, a media server, and a full-featured router and firewall, and it's all running on such seemingly-weak hardware…
Home Assistant freed me from the smart home brand wars, and now I buy whatever works
…Home Assistant gives me the freedom to buy outside one brand’s ecosystem, but it doesn’t magically turn bad hardware into good hardware. Now I treat cheap devices as experiments first…
Home Assistant's intimidating reputation is completely undeserved once you survive the first week
Ayush Pande Apr 19, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
Home Assistant's best upgrade costs nothing, but it changes everything
Ayush Pande Mar 21, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
I ditched Adobe's $55 monthly fee for three free tools that actually work faster
Jasmine Mannan Apr 28, 2026, 7:30 AM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
I switched back to OrcaSlicer for my Bambu printer, and the cloud integration changes everything
…He's written for Macworld , Tom's Hardware , groovyPost , The Mac Observer , and more before beginning here at XDA. Sign in to your XDA account For a while, using a Bambu printer…
n8n, Dify, and Ollama might be the best self-hosted AI automation stack right now
…It’s built for integrations, with a large set of connectors and solid control over triggers, retries, and branching. It also scales well with queue mode using Redis and multiple workers, so…
Synology's DSM is brilliant until you realize what TrueNAS and Unraid can actually do
Rich Edmonds May 11, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Richard is the PC Hardware Lead at XDA and has been covering the technology industry for almost two decades. He's been building…